OREGON. 



671 



Brought forward $820,019 76 



Warrants drawing 10 per cent, interest : 



Wagon-road warrants, payable out of swamp, 

 overflowed, tide, 5 per cent. United States 

 land sale, and other land funds $133,600 00 



Outstanding warrants payable from funds de- 

 rived from special tax 192,975 62 



Total liabilities. . 



$331,575 62 

 $651,595 38 



During the past two fiscal years there have 

 been paid from the Treasury on account of 

 outstanding warrants $82,648.23 principal and 

 $42,776.13 interest out of funds derived from 

 the special tax authorized to be levied by the 

 last Legislative Assembly. There has also 

 been paid of this class of warrants $4,728.77 

 principal and $2,411.00 interest out of the gen- 

 eral fund. There are also warrants of this 

 kind outstanding that have been advertised 

 for payment, which have not been presented, 

 amounting to $4,451.23, to be paid out of the 

 general fund, and the cash remains in the Trea- 

 sury to be applied to this purpose. In addi- 

 tion to this last amount there is the sum of 

 $475.08 in the Treasury for the payment of ad- 

 vertised warrants of this character, to be paid 

 out of the outstanding warrant fund. 



In scarcely any State has so ample a founda- 

 tion for public schools been so early laid as in 

 Oregon. There is a State University with 89 

 collegiate and 123 preparatory students, an 

 Agricultural College, and a system of public 

 schools in which the growth has been steady, 

 rapid, and healthy during the last six years. 

 Teachers' institutes are extremely popular, and 

 have a fall attendance of teachers and large 

 audiences. There is also a mute-school and an 

 institution for the blind, which are well sus- 

 tained, although the number of those who re- 

 quire instruction in such schools is small. 



Coos County is unsurpassed in the State and 

 perhaps on the coast for the extent of its coal 

 deposits, and for the variety, abundance, and 

 excellent quality of its timber. But its trade 

 is greatly retarded by the dangerous naviga- 

 tion from shifting bars in Coos Bay and at the 

 mouth of Coquilla River. In 1873 the currents 

 inside the bar at Coos Bay formed a natural 

 jetty, and passed out where there is at present 

 a sand-spit to be seen at all stages of the tide. 

 The water on the bar at that time was thirty 

 feet in depth. But there was nothing to fix 

 these eccentric currents, and they were so 

 changed by storms and other causes during the 

 next year as to open up new outlets, and the 

 bars were shifted to different places, the water 

 over them being reduced to less than half its 

 previous depth. 



A large body of swamp lands was donated 

 to the State by the United States, and has been 

 placed at the disposal of the Board of School 

 Commissioners. These lands are sold on easy 

 terms to persons reclaiming them, and are of 

 much value. 



The State Penitentiary is prosperously con- 

 ducted, and there has been a large increase of 



convicts of late. The State Capitol is in an 

 unfinished condition through the failure of the 

 last Legislature to make an appropriation for 

 its completion. 



The long-continued business depression in 

 California, and the low fares by steamer from 

 San Francisco to Portland, have contributed to 

 bring into the State during the summer an in- 

 flux of tramps and vagabonds, who have already 

 become a nuisance to the people. There is a 

 great increase of crime all over the State, and 

 outrages of the most daring character are fre- 

 quently reported. Some portions of the State, 

 and particularly the towns, are annoyed by the 

 presence of idle and lawless men, who will do 

 anything but work to make a living. 



The wheat crop for the year has proved to 

 be better than was anticipated. In fall and 

 early spring sown, on good ground and well 

 put in, a yield of twenty-five to forty bushels 

 per acre is reported in a great many cases, and 

 only in late-sown spring wheat is there a de- 

 cided falling below the average. The crop east 

 of the Cascades is said to be less abundant pro- 

 portionately than in the valley, but still that 

 section will have a surplus of over a million 

 bushels to find its way to market, and the Wil- 

 lamette Valley will probably ship four mil- 

 lions more, if circumstances combine to draw 

 it all out. The quality of the* new wheat is 

 reported generally good. 



The salmon fisheries are a most important 

 interest of the State ; a large amount of capi- 

 tal is invested in them, and a large number of 

 persons are employed. Parties interested in 

 these fisheries on the Columbia River have lo- 

 cated a hatchery up the Clackamas River. The 

 fish taken in the Columbia are mostly canned. 

 The first cannery was established in 1868 by a 

 Mr. Hume, who journeyed from Maine to Cal- 

 ifornia and started a cannery on the Sacra- 

 mento River, whence he soon transported his 

 enterprise to the banks of the Columbia, at- 

 tracted by the superiority both in number and 

 quality of the Oregon fish. He had up-hill 

 work for a time, until his brand of fish became 

 known in the Eastern and English markets, 

 after which the demand rapidly increased, and 

 the business became so profitable that canner- 

 ies were erected at every eligible point between 

 the mouth of the river and the Cascades, 150 

 miles above. There are now twenty-eight large 

 canneries upon the river, more than two thirds 

 of which are at Astoria. The catch of salmon 

 last season reached the large number of 1,250,- 

 000 fish, averaging about twenty-three pounds ; 

 the fish are taken in nets, and upward of forty 

 miles' length of these nets are set out every fine 

 night. The boats start out about 4 p. M., 500 

 or 600 of them, toward the bar, about twelve 

 miles below Astoria. The catch greatly varies, 

 the highest number this season being a little 

 over 12,000 on the 29th of May. The prize 

 fish of that great catch weighed sixty-two 

 pounds. The fishermen earn an average of $5 

 a day through the season, the canneries fur- 



